Holo Drama
by PeskyMynock
Summary: A group of self-proclaimed holofilm stars land themselves in trouble when their homemade stunt sends them crashing into the Jedi Temple.
1. Chapter 1

There are some ways you never want to be woken up.

Massive structural damage to the building you were sleeping in, for instance, was one.

The impact was enough to shake the walls of the room Jedi Master Kyp Durron was sleeping in. Immediately, he rolled away from his bed and leapt to his feet. He blinked his eyes in the darkness. His lightsaber was in hand before he even fully oriented himself.

_I'm in the Jedi Temple, _his sleep-laden brain recalled with some effort. _And I'm still exhausted, _his mind finished. He felt like he had barely even fallen asleep before the rude awakening. His X-wing was probably still cooling in the docking bay from his mission in the mid-rim. He called on the Force to refresh himself and the weariness in his body relented.

Kyp released a sigh of frustration before running a hand through his dark hair and slipping on his robes and boots. Slapping the door release, the warm lights of the temple hall flooded his room. The hallway lights were still muted, indicating it was the middle of the night. Several young Jedi trainees had also left their rooms to see what had happened. They stood in the hallway, looking bewildered.

"Master Durron," one young teenage trainee called out. "What's happened?" She stood nearby in the hallway, still in her sleeping attire. Her eyes were wide and startled. Her long hair was still knotted and angled strangely, styled by her pillow. In any other circumstance, her appearance would have been comical.

Kyp turned to answer her, but raised his voice loud enough to be heard by all of the young students in the hall. "Stay here. Go back to your rooms. I'll go investigate. Comm either me or one of the other masters if you hear anything else."

Without waiting for them to respond, Kyp turned down the hall and sprinted towards the turbolift.

It was unusual for a Jedi Master to stay in one of the rooms on the residence wings, but after his mission and long flight back to Coruscant, Kyp had simply wanted a nearby place to rest. Now, he was glad he had opted not to go back to his apartment. Using the Force, he reached out and sensed several beings in distress in the upper levels of the temple. There was anger, fear…. Embarrassment? Unusual, but surely that was the source of the trouble.

The turbolift opened on one of the upper levels, near the base of the spires. In the days of the Old Republic, this would have been the roof of the temple. Now, this area lay under the transparisteel pyramid that enveloped the entire structure. Lush gardens that relied on the sunlight thrived here and provided food for the Jedi.

Currently, there was a flaming speeder half buried amongst the vegetables. Black smoke rose up and through the hole that had been torn through the pyramid above.

Kyle Katarn was already on the scene. A singed and highly apologetic human woman looked like she was trying to explain. Her hands made animated gestures in the air in front of her.

Kyp had to hear this. He ran forward, avoiding the debris that covered the walkway and slid to a stop next to Katarn. Several other Jedi Knights had responded to the incident, but the ones that weren't putting out the fire in the speeder stood aside respectfully as Master Katarn spoke to the woman.

"Who is this and why is she in our yard?" Kyp asked Katarn dryly as he positioned himself next to the other Master to face the intruder.

"An aspiring holofilm actress with an increasingly large bill to pay," remarked Katarn in the same tone.

The woman in front of them shifted uncomfortably. "As I said, I'm really, really sorry about this. And my name, by the way, is Myril. We'll pay for it, I promise." Her lovely face was dirtied from the crash but seemed sincere.

"We?" asked Kyp. As if on cue, the turbolift Kyp had emerged from opened again. A tall, frenzied human male still holding a holorecorder ran towards the scene with a panicked padawan trailing him.

"I… I tried to stop him…I'm sorry, Masters. He said he owns the speeder," puffed the young Rodian padawan.

"It's okay, Tophe," soothed Katarn.

The tall man came forward and hugged the woman, lifting her off the ground. "Myr! I'm so glad you're okay! We were so scared you had shot your last scene when the speeder hit. What a stunt!"

The woman howled. "Gah! You hug like a Wookiee, Cam! Knock it off! If I don't already have a broken rib, I do now!" He released Myril and she staggered to regain her footing. The tall man was grinning, pleased. He had handsome, sculpted features and a demeanor that suggested he could be a fellow actor.

"Myril and… Cam, was it?" asked Kyp. "So glad you're reunited. Now please explain why there's a speeder sized hold in our roof."

Myril cleared her throat. "As I was explaining," she said, glancing at Katarn, "We're making a holofilm. We were filming a chase scene where I was supposed to skim the surface of the pyramid. I uh… well, I lost control. I didn't so much skim as… well, plummet. Again, I'm sorry about that." Myril paused for a moment before a thought dawned on her. She turned to Cam and whispered hurriedly, "Did you at least get it all recorded?"

Before Cam could answer, Katarn interrupted their private conversation, irritated. ""one here is completely irresponsible... security "to skim the surface of the pyramind ng, pleased. He had sculpted features rtoWhat you've done here is completely irresponsible. Someone could have been injured, including yourselves. We should turn you two over to Coruscant security…"

"No no no no no no!" the two filmmakers said in union, panicked. The Jedi Masters regarded them with raised eyebrows at their outburst.

Cam and Myril looked at each other nervously. "Coruscant security didn't, uh… look kindly on our scene with the loose gundark in the park," Cam explained.

"The scene turned out great, though," Myril added. "And no one ended up getting hurt there, either," she finished quickly. She offered the Jedi Masters a nervous smile.

Kyle looked at them in stunned disbelief. "Where did you even _get_ a gundark?" Kyp's put his hand to his face and rubbed his eyes. Adrenaline and Force-focused awareness was quickly being replaced with an annoyed weariness. These two had no idea what they were doing or how much trouble they were in.

Myril saw the Jedi become increasingly frustrated and opted to not answer the question. "We… could give you guys free copies of the film when we're done," she offered tentatively, trying to smooth over the situation.

That was the last straw. Katarn shook his head and grabbed hold of Myril's arm. "C'mon, you two are staying here for the night. We'll question you more in the morning." He looked back over his shoulder at young Tophe. "How many others of this group are downstairs?"

"Just two more, Master," he responded.

"Good," remarked Katarn. He turned to address the assembled Jedi Knights. "The rest of you gather the other two and bring them to the holding cells as well. They get a complimentary stay tonight."

Kyp reached out and grabbed a hold of Cam, ushering him towards the turbolift as well. "Wait!" Cam protested. "Who is going to feed my pet nerf?"

Kyp looked at Cam bewildered. "You have a pet _nerf_ on Coruscant?"

Cam shrugged in Kyp's grip. "I had a big extra room to fill."

A big extra room to fill. On Coruscant, home of the highest priced real estate in the galaxy. "I take it you're funding this film project then?" asked Kyp dryly.

Cam turned awkwardly to face him, oblivious. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

In the holding cells nestled deep within the temple, Cam was the first to break the silence.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he remarked. He sat on a small, hard bench on the far side of the room.

"Hmph," Myril grunted. She laid on one of the cots, arms draped over her face to block the sterile light coming from above. "That sounds like a good line to put in the movie. If I wasn't so tired, I'd write it down."

"I really don't get how you are so calm about this," Rydic snapped. A male Twi'lek of a cautious nature, Rydic was usually the voice of reason in the group. However, his logic and levelheadedness were often times overruled by the combined passion Myril and Cam had for the extreme. Once they got it in their heads that they would do something, Rydic's words were drowned out, sometimes literally if explosives were involved.

Rydic sat in the corner of the cell, posture rigid. He clicked his nails together in nervous frustration and silently cursed himself for getting involved. He always said 'yes' when Cam asked if he wanted to join them for a filming session. Officially, he was in charge of editing the footage they created. He really didn't need to tag along for the messes they created while they recorded, but he found it hard to refuse. He had always agreed to tag along with Cam, even when they were childhood friends. As much as he hated to admit it, Cam's antics provided a strange sort of chaos that he had come to find… well, fun at times. That silent confession made his left lekku twitch. Now that they were continuing their individual studies at one of Coruscant's universities, the opportunity for something outside of research was admittedly refreshing.

Neither Myril nor Cam had responded to Rydic's snappy outburst, but that wasn't shocking. Myril looked like she had finally fallen asleep, arms still draped across her eyes, and Cam seemed lost in his thoughts. Rydic's protest had been ignored, again. He sighed, and turned to regard the fourth member of their party.

B4N-3Y, or "Barnaby" as Myril had nicknamed him, stood completely still against the opposite wall near the door. He had powered down shortly after they were sequestered in this cell. His patchwork appearance was the result of many new parts and upgrades he had bought himself since arriving on Coruscant. Myril had said she found him buried in some ancient bunker on her last research trip to Adumar. The droid had developed a very "unique" personality over the three centuries since its creation. It seemed being left to rot on Adumar had given it a permanent bad attitude. It was sassier than Rydic's mother and more pompous than a Hutt. In all, he was the exact opposite of everything a good droid should be. Myril brought Barnaby back to Coruscant, claiming she found the droid's shocking personality funny and that he'd make their holos more interesting.

Personally, Rydic found the droid frustratingly unhelpful. It mostly followed around begrudgingly, inserting dark humor into conversations and working the bare minimum it needed to in order to earn more credits for upgrades. People often commented on their footage on the holoweb, glorifying how clever it was to include such a joke of a droid. Little did they know, the droid wasn't acting, this was just who he was. Rydic often wondered what the droid would do once it was satisfied with all of its new parts and no longer needed the credits.

Cam stretched, knocking Rydic out of his thoughts. He bundled up his jacket and laid it at the end of the bench, using it as a make-shift pillow. "Well, Rydic old friend, we might as well try to get some sleep."

Rydic tried to get more comfortable himself, though he was still very tense. "What do you think will happen to us?"

Cam shrugged easily. "Don't worry about it tonight. They seem intent on dealing with us in the morning and there's nothing we can do about it right now. Plus, the Jedi have a reputation for being merciful."

"Some of them do," responded Rydic darkly.

Cam laughed. "You're worrying again. Knock it off. Try to get some sleep; we'll need you to help us talk to them tomorrow."

Rydic sighed again, defeated, and watched as Cam slipped into sleep easily. He desperately hoped Cam was right and that the Jedi would let them off the hook. Nothing was ever normal in this group of friends, especially since Cam met Myril. Maybe that's why Cam enjoyed Myril's company, though. They both had a taste for a bit of chaos.

Rydic wished he could be as carefree as them as he drifted into a fitful sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Morning sun was streaming in through the large windows of the temple when Kyle Katarn and Kyp Durron met again to discuss the situation.

"I say we set them all loose and let Saba do some hunting," said Kyp, jokingly. He leaned back casually in his chair, idly swishing the last bits of nutritional breakfast shake in his cup.

Katarn chuckled, sitting opposite from Kyp. "That's beyond punishment. That's torture." He turned his attention back to the morning activity outside. There was the usual hustle around the Senate building. If anyone in the speeders outside noticed the hole in the Jedi Temple, they didn't slow down to stop and gawk. "We'll wait for the others to arrive before calling our group of aspiring holostars up to talk. Luke and Mara should be back from the Senate soon."

Kyp drained the rest of the contents of his cup. "Always something political for the Jedi to attend to. In a lot of ways, I wish we were still based on Yavin IV. At least back then there was some distance between us and everything on Coruscant. Now we're practically sitting in their laps and they think we're their personal assistants."

Kyle regarded Kyp with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, we all know your opinion. Why do you think you keep getting jobs where you aren't required to negotiate on behalf of the Republic?"

Kyp smiled wide. "Master Skywalker knows my strengths." Suddenly, his comlink chimed. Kyp answered it to hear one of the apprentices on the line.

"Master Durron," her voice rang through the comlink. "The holos you requested are finished. I've sent you what I found to the conference room."

Kyp thanked her, then switched the comlink off. He turned in his chair to bring up the visual feed of what he had requested on a nearby panel.

"What holos?" Kyle inquired. When Kyp didn't respond immediately, realization slowly dawned on him. "You didn't seriously pull one the apprentices away from her studies to have her gather the footage those idiots posted on the holoweb, did you?"

Kyp glanced back, an amused look on his face. "It's for _research,_ of course. What sort of Jedi would we be if we didn't at least learn more about the people we have in custody? Besides, we have time. We're the first ones here."

Kyle rolled his eyes and murmured something under his breath. "Unbelievable. Fine. Let's see one."

The short holofilm boomed to life with a soundtrack of over the top action music. What followed was a mostly coherent plot involving Cam and Myril playing outer rim pirates on a mission to steal a sock that was signed by popular musician Max Rebo. There were unnecessary explosions, slapstick humor and some sort of impertinent droid that tagged along, looking simultaneously bored and annoyed. In all, it was _impressively_ ridiculous.

Kyp paused the footage as Luke and Mara entered the conference room. They were followed closely by a senator Kyp was not familiar with. The portly man was so deep in his discussion with the Skywalkers that he did not immediately notice Kyp and Kyle.

"…is why I simply cannot support the Jedi in this matter," the senator finished. "I'm afraid my constituents do not have the highest regard for your Jedi order. If I were to cast my vote in your support, they would run me out of office!"

Luke and Mara regarded him patiently, though Mara's aura in the Force revealed her frustration with the man. "I see," responded Luke. "I am saddened to hear that this visit to the temple thus far has not been enough to change your opinion." The senator opened his mouth as if to insist that his stance would not be changed when Luke gestured with a hand towards Kyp and Kyle. "Senator Markaloos, these are Jedi Masters Kyle Katarn and Kyp Durron."

Senator Markaloos glanced at Kyp and Kyle and was about to dismiss them rudely when something caught his eye. He approached them excitedly with a complete change in his demeanor. Kyp and Kyle exchanged confused glances as the senator approached them and then walked between them and past them to stand in front of the paused holofilm projection.

"THIS," Senator Markaloos proclaimed, "is one of my favorite films!"

Luke and Mara stood bewildered. Kyle looked like he had eaten something sour and Kyp almost had to call on the Force to keep from laughing out loud.

"And you have copies of all of them!" said the senator, shuffling through all of the holofilms Kyp had pulled. "How wonderful that you are also fans!"

Thinking quick, Kyp responded, "Yes, well, they recently recorded a very… unique stunt here at the temple."

"You are working with these distinguished independent holofilm makers?" the senator asked, wide eyed and hopeful. "Everyone on my planet is quite taken with this group. In fact, a collaboration between these up and coming holostars and the Jedi could be what it takes to garner the support of my voters."

"Is that so?" asked Luke, stepping forward with a smile.

"Indeed!" replied Senator Markaloos. "How wonderful! Master Skywalker, thank you for this enlightening tour. I will depart for my home planet at once and eagerly await this new holofilm. No doubt the Jedi will soon be the talk among my people!"

The senator gave a slight bow and the Jedi returned the gesture. With a swirl of his robes, Senator Markaloos left the room.

Mara turned towards Kyp. "Please tell me you actually have a way of contacting whoever made this holo. Getting that senator in our corner would do wonders for us. He's the last vote we need to get the senate on our side."

"I can do better. The whole group is sitting in a holding cell here in the temple," Kyp replied.

Luke furrowed his brow, confused. "Are they the reason you asked for us to meet you?"

Katarn nodded. "The left a speeder sized hole in our roof last night trying to record their latest adventure. No one was injured in the crash and the construction droids are already working on repairing the damage to the temple. Our little holostars asked us not to call Coruscant authorities since apparently they've had some entanglements with them in the past. We granted them that much, but we went ahead and locked them up while we deliberated on what actions to take next."

"Our first course of action was going back to bed," Kyp said grumpily. "As long as we keep this incident filed strictly under Jedi business as they requested, I figure they can wait for us to get around to them."

"Sounds like they really disrupted things around here. I'd say they owe us one, don't you?" Mara asked Luke with a scheming smile.

"Let's see if we can encourage them to accept our creative suggestions for their next film," Luke agreed.

Kyle shook his head, lamenting. "This means that they are going to have to be here longer than necessary, then."

"Are they that bad?" asked Luke.

Kyp and Kyle looked at each other before looking back at the Skywalkers. "We'll let you decide for yourselves."

Behind them, the end of the holofilm resumed play. "TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR THE THRILLING CONCLUSION…"


End file.
